Character building for children about honest.

1. “King Bloggish would like for you to paint one of his guest rooms
purple,” explained Toshgi the Meek to the three palace painters—Misang,
Oskorn, and Bershag.
“But how?!” the painters asked.
“Paint is only white,” added Bershag. “We’ve never had purple paint.”
Toshgi answered, “Because of the great love all in Nog have for the color purple, the kind
and generous King Bloggish would like to make purple paint available to everyone, so that not
only our clothes, but our houses and carts can be purple as well.”
“A marvelous new idea!” exclaimed Misang.
“I would love to have purple walls in my house,” said Oskorn. “But how do we make purple paint?”
“As you know, Lord Tray oversees the extraction of purple sap from the purplish tree which
we use to dye our clothes. King Bloggish has invited him to stay at the castle this weekend
to discuss the need to extract a greater quantity of sap, so that there is enough to make
purple paint,” explained Toshgi.
“The king wishes to have the walls painted purple in the room where Lord Tray will stay, so that
he will see how beautiful purple paint looks.”
On Thursday morning the three painters met in a room at the east end of the king’s palace to
paint the walls purple for the king’s guest, Lord Tray.
“Here’s the white paint,” said Bershag as he set a heavy pail down in the room.
“And here’s the purple sap.” Oskorn pulled a large flask from his pocket and began to pour
some of the sap into the white paint.
ONCE UPON
PLANET NOG
The Truth of the Purple Walls

2. Soon the paint in the bucket was a brilliant purple hue. The
three painters dipped in their brushes to begin painting.
By the middle of the afternoon, all the walls inside the
room were bright purple. The men stood back to admire
their work with satisfaction.
“King Bloggish will be so very pleased,” said Bershag.
“Oh yes,” agreed Oskorn. “These walls are beautiful.”
“I’ll return tonight after dinner to make sure it has dried
properly,” said Misang. And the three friends retired to
dinner.
It was evening when Misang entered the dark room, so he
switched on the light.
He gasped. The walls were not the bright purple he
remembered. In fact, he could barely make out a faint
purple tint. It was obvious they had not added enough
purple sap to the white paint. Misang hurried to find his
fellow painters.
“There’s no time to repaint the walls and have them dry
before Lord Tray arrives tomorrow morning,” said Misang.
“First thing tomorrow we must tell the king that we failed
in painting the walls purple.”
“King Bloggish will be so very disappointed,” said
Bershag.
The three friends stood in quiet despair for a moment,
when Oskorn finally said, “Perhaps, he doesn’t need to
know.”
Misang looked at Oskorn questioningly. “But how can we
not tell him?”
“We can make sure the curtains are closed, so the sun
will shine through them,” Oskorn suggested. Then King
Bloggish and Lord Tray will see purple walls!”
“Yes, that would work. We saw the painted walls with the
sun casting a bright purple hue over them as it shone
through the purple curtains,” said Bershag. “That is what
made the walls look a brighter purple than they were.”
“But that’s dishonest!” Misang retorted. “It’s wrong to
lie!”
“We won’t actually be lying,” said Bershag. “We can
truthfully tell the king we painted the walls purple because
that’s what we did! We simply didn’t know that the sun
shining through the curtains was unexpectedly enhancing
the color.”
“I-I don’t want to lie,” said Misang.
“Bershag and I will explain it to the king,” said Oskorn.
You can stand there quietly.”
“The plan sounds good to me,” Bershag agreed.

3. “What spectacular color and
enhancement!” exclaimed Lord
Tray as he admired the purple
walls.
“I want you to meet the
painters who did this fine work,”
said King Bloggish. “Please
meet Misang, Bershag, and
Oskorn.”
“You have done a splendid job,”
said Lord Tray.
“You see!” said Oskorn after
the king and Lord Tray walked
away. “That was easy. King
Bloggish and Lord Tray were
pleased with the purple walls as
they were.”
“But when the sun goes down
tonight and Lord Tray turns
on the light switch, the walls
will no longer look purple,” said
Misang.
“We’ll shine the balcony light
through the curtains,” said
Bershag.
“Something will go wrong,”
said Misang. “It’s better to be
honest. I think we should tell the
king about our mistake.”
“NO!!” shouted Oskorn and
Bershag.
“We can wire the balcony light
so it can’t be turned off,”
suggested Oskorn.
Bershag agreed, and while
Misang felt exceedingly
uncomfortable with how the
situation was developing, he
didn’t continue his protests.
That night Lord Tray retired
to his room only to find the
balcony light brightly shining
through his curtains. He
flipped the light switch, but it
seemed to have been broken,
and the light remained on.
Lord Tray tossed and turned
throughout the night, trying
to shield his eye from the
bright light coming through
the curtains. The next
morning, he arrived at the
breakfast table with a puffy,
red eye.
“You look as if you hardly
slept last night,” said King
Bloggish, as he greeted his
visitor.
“The balcony light switch
seems to be broken. I’m not
accustomed to sleeping in a
room so well lit,” answered
Lord Tray. “However, I did
enjoy the purple walls, which I
gazed at all night long.”

4. After breakfast King Bloggish summoned the three painters. “You were in
Lord Tray’s room the night before he arrived. Did you notice the balcony
light would not turn off? And if so, why didn’t you have it fixed?” asked King
Bloggish. “Lord Tray said he was kept awake due to that light shining into
his room.”
Misang stood quietly while his two friends answered.
Oskorn went first. “We noticed it was broken, but we couldn’t find an electrician
to repair it.”
Misang continued. “So I tried to repair it, and thought I had.”
“Yes,” said Oskorn, “we thought it was working.”
King Bloggish turned to Misang. “Misang, you have remained quiet. Is there
something you wish to say?”
Misang could not keep quiet any longer, and went on—to the dismay of his
partners—to explain the truth about the pale purple paint to the king. His friends
hung their heads in shame. Then Misang, Bershag, and Oskorn apologized to the
king for not having told him the truth earlier.
“My dear friends,” said the king, “I’m sad to discover you have been dishonest
in covering up a mistake instead of telling me about the problem. We’ve always
enjoyed honesty between ourselves, have we not?”
“Yes, Your Majesty, always,” replied Misang.
“Absolutely!” added Oskorn.
“We’re so ashamed,” said Bershag. “Please forgive us. Please tell us what we
can do to help set things right.”
“To begin with,” the king answered, “I want the three of you to tell Lord Tray the
truth about the paint, and how you broke that light switch in order to cover up
your mistake. Poor Lord Tray hardly slept a wink all night long.
“And though I know today is your day off, this afternoon I want you to paint the
walls purple in another room of the castle. Lord Tray can move there once the
paint has dried.”
The three painters headed off to apologize to Lord Tray, who graciously
accepted their apologies.

5. The three painters mixed a triple dose of purple sap into the white paint this
time, and made sure the curtains were open. When they had finished painting,
the walls were a beautiful, bright purple, even with the curtains open.
Lord Tray hired more workers to extract more purple sap from the trees. With
time the walls inside the Noggians’ houses were shades of vibrant purple.
“Long live King Bloggish,” shouted the people of Nog, “for he has given us
purple paint!”
“Long live King Bloggish,” exclaimed Misang to his two friends, “for he has
shown us true mercy!”
“And he reminded us of the importance of telling the truth,” said Oskorn.
“May we always be known for our honesty, and never again try to cover up our
mistakes with an untruth,” said Bershag.
“He that covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever
confesses and forsakes them will have mercy”
(Proverbs 28:13 NKJV).
S&S link: Character Building: Values and Virtues: Truthfulness-1b
Authored by Christi S. Lynch. Illustrated by Jan McRae. Designed by Roy Evans.
Published by My Wonder Studio. Copyright © 2021 by The Family International
It was a relief for
me when Misang told the
king what had really happened.
It’s difficult to cover up the
truth with a lie, as one
falsehood often leads
to another.
Have you ever been
tempted to lie to cover
up a mistake that you have
made? It might seem difficult
to tell the truth, but you’ll
be relieved and happier
once you do.
We should have
told the king right
away about our
mistake with
the paint.